'Left Behind' Producer Says World Is Living in End Times

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The producer behind the upcoming Christian movie "Left Behind," starring Nicolas Cage, said that he believes the world is currently living in the end times before the Rapture, the prophecy where believers are said to be taken from Earth to heaven at the Second Coming of Christ.

"It's prophesied in the Bible and the Bible says that before the beginning of the tribulation which will be in the end times, which I have no doubt we are living in the end times so therefore it could happen tomorrow, that the church is going to be called home and caught up in the air and taken to heaven and that's what this movie's about," Paul LaLonde, the producer and writer behind the "Left Behind" remake, told The Blaze in an interview on Wednesday.

The movie, which is a remake of the 2000 version starring Kirk Cameron and is based on the book series by the same name, focuses on the hours immediately following the Rapture, where millions of people vanish and the world is left in chaos. The latest remake is set for an Oct. 3 release, and stars Nicolas Cage as pilot Rayford Steele and Chad Michael Murray as journalist Buck Williams.

LaLonde said the reason behind the remake is to make the story behind Left Behind "bigger and better, so that we can have a broader reach and a shot at a broader audience."

"The second reason is that the first movie was based on the entire first book in the series, so a book this fat turned into a screenplay with 57 plot points and no real time to get to know the characters," he added. "And the quintessential event that triggers all of Bible prophecy is the Rapture – and that got like three minutes of screen time in the first movie."

The producer stated that viewers are going to be "pleasantly surprised" by the production value of the movie, which is said to look different from other films in the religious genre. He added that Hollywood has largely forgotten about the biblical prophecy.

"If the Rapture was a Mayan prophecy there would be 20 Hollywood movies by now for $100 million each," LaLonde said. "But because it's Bible prophecy, it hasn't been touched, it hasn't been done and I've always wanted to see it on the big screen."

The authors of the original book series, Jerry B. Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, have said that they were happy with the early cut of the movie they saw in February. Jenkins shared that both he and LaHaye gave the remake "two enthusiastic thumbs up."